


Beginning at the End: Prologue

by Ithiel_Dragon



Series: Beginning at the End [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Spoilers, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 08:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14077092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithiel_Dragon/pseuds/Ithiel_Dragon
Summary: At the end of it all, Luna comes to Noctis and offers him a chance to face his fate without any regrets.  Who is he to refuse a gift from the gods?





	Beginning at the End: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> No actual pairings in this story. Pairings mostly relate to future stories in the series and may be either romantic, sexual, one-sided, or mostly platonic depending. Tags and ratings for individual stories will vary. Also, unbetaed.

He was still surprised how cold it is. 

Noctis shivered where he stood at the edge of the haven, looking out into the pitch black beyond.  There was no moon. No stars. Nights in the desert around Hammerhead had always been frigid, but this cold seemed different.  It seeps down into his bones and wrapped itself like a snake around his heart, squeezing with every breath he took. The utter… wrongness of it set his teeth on edge. Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio didn’t seem to notice, and Noctis wasn’t sure what was worse.  The feeling itself, or realizing just how accustomed his friends had become to this choking void that they didn’t even notice the wrongness of it any longer.

The only specks of light he could see were from the floodlights on the horizon from Hammerhead and the occasional flaming sparks created by the daemons as they appeared or disappeared, hunting for the last vestiges of humanity clinging to this dead world.  He could hear them prowling in the shadows. Howling, roaring, and screaming in rage and pain. Thankfully the magical runes surrounding the haven still held some power and were able to keep them at bay. A pity the ancient magic could not be duplicated to create more safe havens, or protect the few remaining cities from the daemons.  The knowledge of how to weave this particular magic had been lost long ago. Perhaps the protected havens had not been created by human magic at all, but the long departed Astrals. Who knew?

He couldn’t imagine ten years of this.  The choking black darkness. The constant cold.  The never ending night and the terrors that came with it.  Ten long years filled with nothing but pain, despair, and fear.  How many survivors over the years had lost hope and taken their own lives in utter despair, unable to cling to the vague promise that someday ‘the king of light’ would return and end the long nightmare? He didn’t want to know.  Already the weight of despair hanging over him had him on the verge of breaking down into tears, yet again, and he didn’t have that luxury any longer.

He had to remain strong.  Everyone was depending on him.  Everyone. But especially the three men sitting around the small campfire behind him.  He couldn’t let them down. Not again. He just…

He heard Prompto laugh at something Gladio said and it felt like a fist squeezing his heart.  It was still a little jarring. After ten years of isolation inside the crystal, with only the ancient voices of the gods and his ancestors to keep him company, relying on the memories of his friends and loved ones to keep him relatively sane.  To actually be able to see them. Hear them. Touch them… There was so much he wanted to say, to do, in these last few hours slipping by like the last grains of sand in an hourglass. So much… But he… couldn’t. Couldn’t burden them like that. Not after everything. 

They had taken the news of his impending doom surprisingly well.  It had been… a very difficult conversation. To say the least. He’d debated a long time whether or not to tell them, unsure what they would do if they knew what was going to happen.  The price that needed to be paid to bring back the dawn. He feared what they might do to try to stop the inevitable… but in the end he realized, he could not keep such knowledge from them.  He could not let them be blindsided like that. He owed them that much. Though there had been tears, everyone had been rather accepting. No raging against the unfairness of it all, no vows to protect him no matter what the cost, or desperate plans to circumvent his fate.  Just… sad acceptance.

Honestly, it was a little comforting.  Perhaps a part of them had always known it would come to this.  Or perhaps any hope had so long been lost from this world that no one could imagine a glimmer of it without accompanying pain and sacrifice.  He knew, without a doubt, that they would fight by his side until the bitter end. But when the time came… they would let him go without a fight. They would be fine without him.  

That knowledge was comforting, and hurt at the same time.  He’d made his peace with what he had to do. He’d had a long time to make his peace with it.  He was prepared to do what was necessary. Seeing with his own eyes what had become of the world during the long night, only made his resolve stronger.  He could not let this continue. Only he could end it. He knew what he had to do and he would not hesitate, but… it was still hard.

He had missed them.  So very much. Being able to see them again, even for a short time, brought him more joy than he’d experienced in years.  But it was a bitter sweet joy, knowing he would only have a few hours with them at most before he was forced to leave them again… this time for good. 

There was so… so much he wanted to say.  So much more beyond what had already been said.  Had he ever told Prompto exactly how much his friendship had meant to him? How much he appreciated him for just treating him normal, instead of like a prince? Had he ever expressed to Ignis how grateful he was for everything the man had done for him? Ignis had always been there for him when he needed him most.  He’d sacrificed so much for him… so much that Noctis could never begin to repay that debt. Gladio… had he ever told his Shield just how safe he’d always made him feel whenever he was around? How the older man had inspired him to be better in every way?  How his heart quickened, and his breath caught in his throat sometimes at the mere sight of him?

He’d told them that he loved them.  But even those heartfelt words seemed so… insignificant to describe what he felt for them.  They weren’t merely his friends and brothers. They made up the best parts of his soul. Without them… he was nothing. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t spill out the contents of his heart at their feet in these last few hours before the end.  It would only make things harder.  It wouldn’t be fair to any of them. He couldn’t burden them with… that on top of everything else.

If only he had more time.  If only he hadn’t been such a coward when he’d HAD the time.  If only he hadn’t been so selfish, self absorbed, ignorant of his own heart…

Noctis sighed and closed his eyes. 

He knew he shouldn’t dwell on the past and things that couldn’t be changed.  He shouldn’t think about how he wished he had taken more time to stop whenever Prompto had asked to take a picture of the sights as they drove across the country in the Regalia.  He shouldn’t think about how much he missed napping in the back of the car, listening to the music on the radio, while Ignis drove them from one place to another, never complaining once about playing the ‘chauffeur’ because he actually enjoyed driving. He would never forget the way Gladio’s eyes would light up like a little kid every time they had a simple Cup Noodles for dinner around the campfire.  Hell, sometimes he'd even enjoyed the early morning training sessions, but especially whenever the man would accompany him down to a nearby fishing spot with a book and an indulgent smile.

Noctis opened his eyes, blinking back the tears that had once more gathered on his eyelashes.  He cursed softly and swiped at his eyes angrily. He needed to keep it together, damn it. He needed to be strong now.  He needed to be a KING and not the stupid moody teenager he still felt like on the inside sometimes. He’d already been away from the others for a while now, and it wouldn’t be long before someone, Ignis probably, would come over to make sure he was all right.  The last thing he wanted was for them to see him crying again.

He blinked again, then frowned when he realized he saw something move out in the darkness not very far away from the haven.  His muscles tensed and his heart began to beat faster as adrenaline coursed through his veins even though he knew nothing could get past the protective barrier.  But nothing should be able to get this close to _begin_ with. That meant one of two things.  Whatever was out there wasn’t dangerous… or it was _extremely_ dangerous. 

His fingers twitched at his sides, ready to call forth his sword from the armiger at a moment’s notice.  Maybe it was nothing? Maybe he’d just imagined… but… no… he _knew_ he heard the soft scrape of nails against rock. Noctis was on the verge of calling out a warning to the others when a shadow moved out of the brush and formed into a very familiar shape.

“Umbra?” Noctis whispered in disbelief.  The dog’s tongue lolled out of his mouth, and its tail began to wag as he trotted up and sat at Noctis’ feet as though he shouldn’t be long dead.  He had not been a young dog even ten years ago, but somehow the dog looked no different from the last time Noctis had seen him.

Slowly Noctis crouched down and reached out a hesitant hand to the animal.  It remained still, besides the happily wagging tail, until Noctis’ fingers were close, and then Umbra began to lick his fingers affectionately. 

“Holy shit…” Noctis whispered again in disbelief.  He was real, and not merely a figment of Noctis’ weary and distressed mind, “How are you here?”

But, should it really be such a surprise that Umbra was here now?  Luna’s dogs had always been a little… mystical… Not quite normal dogs.  The way Umbra always seemed to find him with the notebook no matter where Noctis went in the world was just one of the many strange things about the animal.  Was it really such a stretch to believe that the dog had survived, most likely on its own, for all this time, and had managed to find him yet again? Probably not.  Noctis offered the animal a small smile.

“It’s good to see you,” he said, scratching behind one of the dog’s soft ears.  The pain of Luna’s loss had dimmed over time, but it had not completely faded. He had loved her.  Perhaps not as a husband should love a wife, but if things had gone differently perhaps he _could_ have learned to love her as such in time… if he ignored the fact that his heart had already been taken by another. 

Noctis sighed.  What a stupid boy he had been…

“Not stupid.  A little naive perhaps,” a familiar voice whispered and Noctis’ head snapped up so quickly he heard his neck pop.  He blinked, and then blinked again, but the image remained. She was standing not three feet in front of him, haloed in a pale white light, looking as beautiful as the last time he’d seen her.  Her long white dress flowing in a nonexistent breeze, soft golden hair framing her face.  It was Lunafreya. She smiled softly at him, her expression one of both joy and sorrow at the same time. 

His head whipped around to glance behind him, but the others didn’t seem to notice what was happening even though the light in the darkness should have been more than apparent.  Perhaps he was seeing things after all. Perhaps his mind had finally snapped under the strain and… Soft warm fingers brushed his cheek, pulling his attention away from his oblivious friends, and Noctis blinked up at Luna again in awe.  Perhaps madness wasn’t so bad after all, if he could see her one last time before the end.

“You’re not mad, silly,” she scolded him with a gentle laugh, her fingers gliding tenderly through his hair. He felt himself relaxing into her touch easily.

“Am I dreaming?” he whispered, afraid to alert the others to what might be happening in front of him.  At least until he understood it himself.

“In a manner of speaking,” she replied cryptically.  She held out her other hand to him and he reached out to take it in his own.  It definitely felt substantial. Warm. Soft. She gently guided him to stand, but didn’t release his hand once he was back on his feet.

“I’ve missed you,” he said softly.  She smiled again, a touch of sadness to her eyes.

“I know.”

“I wish… If only I…” he stammered, his throat beginning to feel tight with emotion.  She gently pressed the tips of her fingers to his trembling lips.

“Shh… now is not the time for regrets.  We will be together again… one day… but until then… I'm here to give you a gift,” she said, and Noctis blinked in surprise.  A gift? After she had already given him so _much_!  She had sacrificed everything, _everything_ , for him.  He owed her more than he could ever possibly repay, and…

“What did I say? No regrets,” she chided him gently, “We all have our part to play.  Our own destiny to fulfill. I fulfilled mine, with no regrets.”

It was Noctis’ turn to smile sadly.  She was so much better than him. Always had been.  If only he could face his own end with such dignity… She smiled again sadly, as though reading his thoughts.  Hell, she probably was.

“It is no simple thing fate has asked of you.  I would take this burden from you gladly if I could.  Alas, this task is something only _you_ can accomplish. But I can offer you one small solace.  The chance to face it without regret.”

Noctis frowned in confusion.

“How?”

She smiled again.

“I can give you time.”

Time?  He… didn’t understand.  She seemed to sense his confusion, because she went on to explain.

“A spell.  A gift of the Astrals. If you wish it, Umbra can take you back. To Lucis before the darkness. To Altissia, before it was drowned beneath the waves. Back to your friends… to your family… to live, until you are ready to return.”

Noctis felt like his head was spinning.  He could… go back? In time? It was difficult to believe, but he knew it must be true, because Luna would never lie to him. The implications of such a power were… enormous!

“But… there are some rules you must abide by, if you choose to use this gift,” Luna continued quickly before his thoughts could spiral out of control, “One, you may go back, make different choices for yourself, live a different life if you wish, but certain things cannot be changed.  Some things simply… must happen. Your father, Insomnia, me… you cannot attempt to change our fates no matter what. If you do, the consequences could be devastating."

Immediately Noctis’ heart fell, because that’s exactly what he had been thinking.  Hoping. That maybe he could use this gift to go back and change things. That maybe he could save his father and help protect Insomnia against Niflheim, that maybe he could save _her_ … a second chance to do things _right…_ but apparently that wasn’t the case.  Then what good was this power, really?

Again, as through hearing his thoughts, she looked beyond him and he followed her gaze back over his shoulder to the three men grouped around the small campfire.  Oh…

He couldn’t deny the offer was tempting.  Perhaps too tempting. What if this was all some kind of trick? Noctis certainly wouldn't put it past Ardyn…

Yet, even though Ardyn had fooled him before, taking the shape of Prompto and making him think his friend was his worst enemy, somehow he didn’t think even Ardyn could pull off this particular ruse.  Even back on the train Noctis had realized _something_ was off. He just didn’t know what… There was simply no way that someone like Ardyn would be capable of replicating the feeling of _goodness_ that had always surrounded the young woman in front of him, and Luna simply felt too much like… Luna to be anyone else.

The young woman chuckled softly, "Why, thank you, Noctis," and he found himself returning her smile easily.  But then her expression turned somber once more.

“You should also know that whatever happens in the past, will be very real.  You can feel pain. You can be hurt. You can even be killed… so you must be careful,” She warned, and he nodded in understanding. She smiled softly again.

“If you decide to use this gift, Umbra will guide you.  He will come at your call wherever you are, and take you wherever you need.  For as long as you need… I hope… you will decide to come visit me, at some point,” she said the last in almost a whisper. 

“Of course.”

She smiled at him one last time, brushing her fingers through his hair as she leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his cheek.  He hugged her to him as tightly as he dared, but already he could feel her growing less substantial. Soon it felt as if he was clinging to mist.  He could barely see her any longer, the soft light around her fading back into darkness, but her kind eyes remained locked with his own.

“I love you, Noctis,” he barely heard her voice whisper over the sound of the wind.

“I love you… Thank you, Luna…” he whispered into the darkness, even though he knew she was gone.  He swiped at his eyes again, once more erasing the signs of his tears, then looked down at Umbra still waiting expectantly near his feet. 

Should he? Isn't this what he had been hoping for?  More time. It felt incredibly selfish. A part of him felt like he was abandoning his duty, his people, his friends…

Noctis looked back towards the fire.  Saw Ignis turn his head in his direction even though the man could not see him. 

More time.  A gift. A chance for no regrets… or at least… less regrets than he had now. 

Did he dare? Was it worth the risk?

He could return whenever he wished.  Luna had made that clear and she would never lie to him.  Noctis slowly knelt down in front of the black dog. It’s dark eyes followed his every movement, somehow appearing far more wise than any mere canine should be.

“Noctis?” he heard Ignis’ voice call to him.  It was now or never.

“Umbra…” he began, but found he didn’t need to finish.  As though already having sensed his decision, Noctis knew immediately when the magic began to affect him.  The darkness, even as thick and penetrating as it had seemed, suddenly became even more so. Swallowing up all sound, and even the light from the campfire behind him.  Cold gave away to warmth, and then Noctis felt himself… falling. His eyes suddenly feeling heavy, and he could barely keep them open.

He thought he heard his name again, muffled, far away, spoken with far more urgency… and then there was nothing.  

**Author's Note:**

> So basically this is my explanation as to why you can travel back to the past other than just the 'because reasons' one they give you in the game.


End file.
